Four Years, and Easy Roasted Acorn Squash Mash Recipe

This acorn squash is sweet and rich. Best of all, it’s super easy. My son eats as much as he can get out of the shell — so that’s a testament to how kid-friendly this is. Serve it in the squash shell, and it looks pretty impressive too.

Today is a special day. It’s Sarah’s Cucina Bella’s birthday!

It was four years ago today that I sat down at my computer, opened a Blogger account and started writing Cucina Bella. Back then, I didn’t think much about how long I would be writing this blog for. Perhaps it would be weeks, perhaps months–but I never imagined that it would be four virtually nonstop years. And now, I can’t imagine stopping.

That first day, I agonized. First, it was over what to name my space. I wanted to find just the right name, something that fit me and my style, my personality and my cooking. Finally, I decided on Cucina Bella … it sounded rustic but trustworthy. And, since my kitchen was the first space in our house that we completed, it seemed perfect.

Then there was the matter of the first post. It was one of the most frightening writing experiences ever. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier, playing out thousands of scenarios in my head before anything even happens. This was so different. My thoughts were just on fire. What if I did it wrong? What if I made an error? What if it was just awful?? I wrote and rewrote, hesitating at every word. Was it enough? Was it right? Was I proud of it? But the worst was the actual hitting of the publish button. After years in the publishing industry, I was used to having layers of editors and paginators between me and the published word … but with blogging, there are no layers. There is just you. And to me, that was scary.

I didn’t even tell anyone I was blogging for at least a month … and then it was literally years before my family found out and started to read it. I think I really wanted to find my footing in this really uncertain world. And I did.

So much has changed since those first entries. My infant son, who was just a few months old, is now a four-year-old boy. I landed an amazing publishing job, had a daughter and decided to go back to freelancing. I’ve landed other fabulous jobs since then.

And on a grander scale, food blogging has changed a lot since 2005. Back then, there were far fewer food blogs out there. It was a smaller community, where many people knew each other. These days, there are just too many to know every food blogger. I am constantly discovering great new ones. Aren’t you?

Oh, four years. Thank you all for reading! I hope you keep coming back for many years to come.

After the jump, check out my recipe for Easy Roasted Acorn Squash Mash – perfect for any night of the week and totally kid-friendly.

Four Years, and Easy Roasted Acorn Squash Mash Recipe

This acorn squash is sweet and rich. Best of all, it's super easy. My son eats as much as he can get out of the shell -- so that's a testament to how kid-friendly this is. Serve it in the squash shell, and it looks pretty impressive too.

Author: Sarah Walker Caron

Ingredients

2acorn squash

4pats of butterdivided

4tspmaple syrupdivided

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the squash in half, length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits inside. Place the squash cut-side down on the baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip the squash over. Place 1 pat of butter and 1 tsp of maple syrup in each hollow. Return to the oven and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the tops are lightly browned.

Sarah Walker Caron is a cookbook author, freelance writer and founder of Sarah’s Cucina Bella. Her latest cookbook is The Super Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook, published by Rockridge Press, which focuses on quick, easy, from-scratch cooking for busy people. A single mother to two kids in middle school, Sarah loves nightly family dinners, juicy tomatoes plucked fresh from the vine and lazy days on the beach. She also adores reading and traveling.

About Sarah Walker Caron

Sarah Walker Caron is a cookbook author, freelance writer and founder of Sarah's Cucina Bella. Her latest cookbook is The Super Easy 5-Ingredient Cookbook, published by Rockridge Press, which focuses on quick, easy, from-scratch cooking for busy people. A single mother to two kids in middle school, Sarah loves nightly family dinners, juicy tomatoes plucked fresh from the vine and lazy days on the beach. She also adores reading and traveling.

Happy Blog Birthday! Four years is so impressive! I’m with you on not telling everyone – I never told any one at work in case I couldn’t keep with it. I made some roasted acorn squash last week with butter and brown sugar- absolutely delicious! I’m sure it’s great with maple syrup too 🙂

Happy birthday Sarah’s Cucina Bella! I hope to keep seeing your posts for a long time to come; you give me such great ideas and share your thoughts. And it doesn’t hurt that “mashed” or roasted acorn squash is a classic in my home!